Collins: Where are the Texas Oligarchs?

NY Times columnist Gail Collins muses on oligarchy. She asks TPJ where are the Texas oligarchs? Read 'Billion Dollar Babies' at the NY Times.

Lobby Watch: Rube-TLR Lawmakers Sue Ponzi Schemer

The four rube lawmakers who got scammed in a 'Christian' Ponzi scheme played Texans for Lawsuit Reform (TLR) for a chump. Rather than take their losses like men, the TLR-championed legislators filed a plaintiff lawsuit.

Read the Lobby Watch.

Lobby Watch: Mug-Shot Racket Busted

Last session Adam Goldman and Craig Chick plumbed the nadir of one reviled industry on behalf of another. The lobbyists fought the Texas Legislature's clampdown on those nasty websites that publish mug shots on the Internet and extort payments to take them down.

Go behind the mug shots with the new Lobby Watch.  Or make us an offer to take these down.

Ethics Commission Steps Into 'Dark Money' Disclosure Debate

On a close vote of 6 to 2 (it takes 6 votes to pass an item) the Texas Ethics Commission agreed to begin a rule making process that may lead to disclosure of 'dark money' donors. While the vote doesn't guarantee a disclosure rule will be adopted, it signals a recognition that dark money disclosure warrants a serious debate.

Read Ethics Commission Sets Dark Money Proposal for Public Comment, by David Saleh Rauf in the Houston Chronicle.

Lobby Watch: Anti-Tort Activist Sues for $1.3 Billion

Months after its CEO gave $250,000 to Texans for Lawsuit Reform, Energy Transfer Partners decided to build an interstate pipeline with another company. That deal soured, prompting Energy Transfer to sue its ex-business partners for up to $1.3 billion.

The new Lobby Watch notes that this same litigious company is bankrolling the gubernatorial campaign of a fellow tort-reforming plaintiff.

Abbott Takes Additional $87,738 from Predatory Lenders

Greg Abbott’s January 15 fundraising report reveals $87,738 in contributions from predatory loan industry sources between July 1, 2013 and Dec. 31, 2013. Abbott’s total take from the industry since 2009 is $271,738. Researchers did not find any predatory-loan contributions in the latest Davis report, keeping her total at $10,500 since 2009.

View the list of payday contributions to Abbott.
View the list of payday contributions to Davis.

Lobby Watch: Davis Check Sizes Increase As High Rollers Stake Abbott

Small checks of $100 or less accounted for 27 percent of Wendy Davis' latest haul. That's way down from last summer but far exceeds Greg Abbott, who got 3 percent of his money in small checks. Whopper checks of at least $10,000 supplied 69 percent of Abbott's money and half of what Davis reported. Much more of her money originated outside the Lone Star State.

Lobby Watch sizes up their respective war chests.

Lobby Watch: Is Abbott Soliciting Checks From GOP Stepford Wives?

Greg Abbott's latest campaign report suddenly lists many of his historically male contributors jointly with their wives. What's more, Abbott now reports the names of these previously unacknowledged wives first, effectively placing them in a dominant position. Are the newly visible wives asserting financial control over the GOP? Or is Abbott merely massaging data to counter the notion that his female opponent will exploit an electoral gender gap?

Read the new gender-bender Lobby Watch.

Lobby Watch: Charter Schools Master Civics Lesson$

People tied to Texas' six biggest charter school chains doubled their campaign contributions in the last two election cycles. This culminated in the legislature authorizing a 42 percent increase in the number of charter schools. Driving the contribution surge were KIPP schools' deep-pocketed board members, as well as more numerous contributors at Harmony schools.

Chart that charter money, kids, in the new Lobby Watch.

Itemized Lists of Predatory Lender Money to Abbott & Davis

View/download lists of itemized contributions from predatory lending interests to Attorney General Greg Abbott and Senator Wendy Davis. (PDF formats.) Contribution data covers the period January 1, 2009 through June 30, 2013, the most recent data available from the Texas Ethics Commission.

Attorney General Abbott received $179,000 in payday contributions.
Senator Wendy Davis received $10,500 in payday contributions.